In a variety of printing devices, such as rotary, intaglio, and flexographic printers, it is common to have interchangeable rolls so that a variety of printing cylinders can be accommodated. U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,536, the specification of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a typical device. It is also known to use pivotally mounted cylinders in printing devices to allow adjustment and movement between the cylinders. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,286,622, 3,762,323, and 3,611,924, the specifications of which are incorporated herein by reference, are examples of such devices. Typical pivoting devices of this type operate using mechanical counterbalances and spring biasing mechanisms which are difficult to adjust and which often do not maintain proper alignment and adjustment of the cylinders during long operations. In addition, in conventional devices access to the mechanism is difficult so that cleanup of printing ink after a run is cumbersome and time consuming.
Moreover, the conventional systems which permit interchanging the printing cylinders require that additional rolls be changed with the print cylinder, or require a substantial adjustment of the rotating axis of the transfer cylinder in order to maintain proper contact between the various rolls and cylinders in the printing unit. Thus, the versatility of these devices is limited, particularly in the variations in sizes of plate cylinders that can be used in the same printing unit, and the adjustment and changeover of plate cylinders is comparatively cumbersome.
The print module of the present invention has greatly improved access to the unit for cleaning and the like such as during the changeover of inks or on completion of a run, and accommodates a substantial range of plate cylinder sizes in the same print module without requiring the exchange of other cylinders or a substantial adjustment in their axes of rotation. These advantages are achieved by the use of pivotal fountain and plate sections mounted to a frame, which sections may be pivoted for selective engagement and separation of certain cylinders relative to others. These sections include actuating and adjustable stop means which may be preset to define the degree to which the respective cylinders are separated and contacted. The fountain section includes a removable ink fountain readily accessible for cleaning and the like.
Additionally, the plate cylinder is mounted within the pivotal plate section for adjustable movement of its axis of rotation along a mounting plane which is generally flat and generally bisects and is perpendicular to a plane tangential to the transfer and impression cylinders at the same side of these cylinders as the plate cylinder.
The result is a substantial increase in versatility of the module because of the interchangeability of a large range of print cylinders, and a substantial reduction in the down time of the module due to the ready access to the mechanism for the cleaning and interchange of cylinders and other mechanisms. These and other advantages will be apparent from the drawing and detailed description to follow.